Just Breathe
by xXBoulevard-of-Broken-DreamsXx
Summary: Post 5x18. What can happen when Mac gets the news of Stellas own little investigation. SMacked, and some other ships eventually. Buckle up your up for a nice ride! Enjoy
1. Chapter 1

**I apologize for this inconvenience but I uploaded wrong file. Thanks to Maja (aka MrAprilfoolsWatanuki) for catching that horrible mistake. I hope you guys don't mind. I am also uploading Chap 2.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything! I just got thoughts and wrote them down.**

**Its half written with Maja (aka MrAprilfoolsWatanuki) for helping me and being my BETA! I owe you a lot of fruit baskets!!**

**We hope you will enjoy the story**...

Stella was relaxing on her couch after a very long day of work, when she heard a knock on the door. She frowned wondering "Who can it possibly be at this hour?". It was already past 10 pm and she knew that all the people with a little more sense in their heads would be doing something by better now.

Pulling her blanket off her body that kept her warm, Stella rose from her couch and slowly made her to the door. She looked into the peephole and saw surprised her boss and best friend Mac standing there outside her apartment, in his turquoise dress shirt standing and waiting for her to open the door.  
"Stella open up, its me, Mac" Mac said and she could tell by listening his voice that he was a bit anxious.

"Just hold on one sec Mac."Stella said as she pulled the door open, smiling at Mac. "Hey! What brought you here so late?" She could tell that something was wrong with him as his eyebrows were raised when she looked over to him.  
"Can I come in?"Mac said clenching his jaw shut. Stella could sense that something was wrong, she could tell any day, any moment, day or night. When you have worked with a person day in and day out, you know how to read them, read every expression or vocal pitch they had - and Stella knew how to read him, when he wasn't talking, simply - she just knew him too well.  
"Sure, everything ok?" Stella asked as she moved from the door opening to let him into her small apartment hall. She closed the door and she looked at Mac. He was pissed; she could tell that he was like a boiling pot of water ready to burst with fury any time from now.

Mac looked at her clenched his teeth a little bit harder, and let it up for finally say something to her. "Stella I need to know if you were there." Mac asked looked at Stella, she couldn't really figure out what his eyes said, most of the time he let his eyes do the talking instead of his vocal chords, but now, she couldn't classify them. Maybe it was too much emotions in there, anger? Hurt? Anxiety?  
His words took Stella aback and she arched a brow at his sentence.  
"Wha…Mac what do you mean…where was I when?" Stella didn't understand Mac's what he meant by that.  
"Stella, I need to know if you were at Sebastian Diakos' apartment two nights ago." Macs patience with her was nearing an end.

Stella's eyes widened. She suddenly felt a punch in her stomach and she could tell that this won't end well. The room around her started to spin and it felt like she couldn't breathe. She tried to control her feelings.

"Hhmm. Mac how did…" she stammered.

"His neighbor across the street gave us your description, she said that she saw you and Angell in Diako's apartment at 3am, Stella I'm done playing games with you! I need to know the truth."Mac was on the edge. He knew that she was lying to him, and that pissed him off extremely, being lied to directly in the face was something he never liked, though he was sure no one really enjoyed that feeling.

"Yes I was there. Feeling better now?" she sighed and looked at him."Besides what was I supposed to do Mac? Sit and wait for someone else to be killed? Or get another threat from him?"Stella nearly screamed at Mac.

"You disobeyed a direct order! Stella you were in that apartment when you knew better than that. I -..." he muttered. "I can't believe you Stella! You out of all people?!" Mac yelled at Stella."How do we know that you didn't shoot him? Stella are you aware of the consequences?"  
Stella shrugged, she was shocked by Mac's sudden outburst. She wanted to help, put Diakos down, but what Mac was telling her made sense, it's like she woke up from some kind of dream.  
Before she could react Mac walked right past her.

"I will talk to you tomorrow. And it will be consequences."Stella grabbed Macs hand.

"Mac...hold on...listen to me…" she tried to stop him from walking away

"Stella you obviously didn't wanted to listen to me, why should I?" Stella froze at the place, it felt like his words had cut her heart into two pieces, there's nothing more that she could do now to make it all right again.  
"I will talk to you tomorrow." With that said Mac left. Stella walked to her door and watched as the man kept walking through her long corridor without looking back at her.

Stella closed the door and just slumped against the door frame. She wasn't mad at Mac, she just couldn't stand the fact that she was so ignorant, that she had disappointed Mac.

In the past couple of weeks they had became closer but this, this just tore them apart, again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything (he he just a phone and a laptop he he), Characters belong to CBS and Mr. Zuiker.**

**Well here you go Chapter 2 Enjoy!! (Chapter 3 is on the way soon hopefully, more action promise)**

**Thank you to all that reviewed, and again sorry about what happened totally my fault (Maya (MrAprilfoolsWatanuki) had nothing to do with that!!!).**

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Stella sank down to the wooden floor in her hallway, resting her back to her door. It felt cold against her back. Mac's steps had died out in the hallway long ago, but she still sat there, listening to every sound out there. Maybe, just maybe it was his steps that came closer to her apartment?  
No, she knew he wasn't going to come back, but if he was, just if, – she wanted to be prepared.

After a while, when Stella was as sure as she could be that he wasn't coming back, she rose slowly from the floor and went back to the living room.

The tv show she was watching previously didn't felt that appealing to continue to watch after the argument with Mac, so she turned it off.

She couldn't seem to focus on the screen in front of her, all she could see was Mac's disappointed face in the back of her head, the moment before he left her apartment.

It felt like her world began to crumble, as the only one who held it together had turned his back to her.

Mac sighed as he entered his apartment, maybe he had gone to far with Stella?

He didn't mean to hurt her, but he really needed to know. He needed to hear it from her.  
Stella had no idea how much he wanted her to say no, to prove Diakos' neighbor wrong.

Cracking his neck and turning the lights on he placed his keys on the counter, beside a blue vase that was nicely placed on top of it.

Stella nearly broke his heart with her previous actions, in the back of his mind he knew that she wanted to do good but after all those years of their friendship, he just couldn't understand that.  
He could probably expect it, and maybe even accept it from Danny, Flack or Lindsay, but Stella? Stella? The only person who he took advice from, or gave an advice to, the person who were there when his stalker threatened him, she was the only person in this world he could trust. He just couldn't wrap his head around it. It made him mad, the blood in his body started to boil not controlling his actions he picked up the blue vase and threw it against the wall.

"_Get a hold of your self! Its not the end of the world!"_ he tried calming himself.

"_Deep breaths..."_ Mac followed his mind and took slow, deep breaths.

After couple of minutes his mind drifted back to Stella. It was a hard case and her witness didn't show up.

"_I heard your witness didn't show...You showered?"_

"_I had to cool off, its not that I'm mad at her..."_

Mac a smile tugged at the corners of his lips when he thought about it, she always made him smile. He sighed

"_This is going to be harder then I thought!"_ with that he turned went to the bathroom to take a shower. All he wanted to do was take a nice cold shower and just go to sleep. When he turned the shower on he felt the sudden cold water on his head which was flowing onto his body, it made his overheated skin scream. After a minute his mind started to think, it felt like he restarted his computer.  
But the only thing he could think of was Stella, and tomorrow.

His mind started to remind him that we needed to get out here so his body doesn't freeze in the cold water. He slowly turned off the water and got out, dried him self and went to bed.

He climbed on his twin size bed pulled the covers and just lay there. The gentle summer breeze tickled his skin, it was perfectly nice night, it wasn't too cold or too hot, just warm enough to have a decent sleep.  
Unfortunately not for him and not tonight. All his thoughts were placed on Stella, he thought of her, his thoughts were drifting to tomorrow and her. He had to give her consequences for her actions. He turned on his side sighed: "Stella, Stella, what have you done...?!"

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**Well the white button with green letters is calling you!!! lol They will make us happy!!!  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything (sadly). Everything belongs to Mr. Zuiker and CBS. Just had thoughts that didn't wanted to leave my head.**

**Thank you for all those replies that I got! You made MrAprilfoolsWatanuki and I happy! So we're giving you another chapter! Almost done with Chapter 4, so the more reviews the faster you'll see next chapter:)(hint hint)**

**Well Enjoy....**

Mac tossed and turned all night, the sheets were twisted around him, sweaty and humid  
he took his cell phone and looked at the clock, it read 3am. "Ghhh" he let out a frustrated moan and threw his head back onto the white pillow again.  
After another ten minutes of twisting and turning, Mac realized that he wouldn't sleepanymore than this, so he decided to head back to the lab, work on some reports he had on his desk, and maybe check on some old cases. All he knew is that he couldn't just lay there and think of Stella, of her smile, and of all the good times they had shared together.

"_It's not over, not now"_Mac mentally kicked himself. He quickly stood up, got dressed and headed to the lab.

The buzzing alarm clock woke Stella up from her sleep. Not that you can call it a sleep really, no actually you can't. Her eyes were closed but her mind just kept replaying the events of the previous night. She was worn out, she was tired and upset. She felt like she was fighting against everything and everyone all night.  
She was torn between her feelings for Mac and her actions. At this point all she wanted to do was erase everything that had happened. She cursed Diako's name every minute. He came messed her life up, broke it to pieces and took her and Macs relationship away. Only God knows how long it will take them to rebuild what they had, and aby the looks of yesterday it wouldn't be an easy road to walk on.

She knew she had to face Mac sooner or later and he was the one who said that she would face consequences because of her actions, Stella just wanted to meet him, face to face again and get this over with.

The curly haired Detective stood up from the couch, her muscles ached from sleeping on the couch all night. She stretched, and headed for the bathroom. Then she changed to her work clothes and she was ready to go. She went to the door and looked back at her apartment, sighed and left.

Stella looked at the tall building and took couple breaths of still fresh morning air and just pushed the glass door of CSI Crime lab.  
She stepped out from the elevator and walked into her office. Stella looked at her silver clock on the wall and she knew that Mac would already be in his office, and she knew that no matter if he would be in his office waiting for her, or not she needed to track Mac down to talk to him.

It seemed like no matter what happened Mac always made her feel better. With the same passion she loved him; she hated him right now, when he puts on his "boss" face she hated him a lot. She put her black purse behind her table, started her computer up and decided to go and find Mac.

She suddenly felt a little sick to her stomach, not that she was nervous about hearing Mac tell her that she was fired or that she needed to be evaluated, or even that she was a suspect in a case, she was nervous about the look he had given her previous night; the look of hurt and disappointment.  
_"Ok Stella, take it easy. Deep breaths, calm down" _she mentally tried calming herself, and breath properly.  
_"Now just turn, and go see Mac, you got your self in that mess and you need to take proper consequences. Even though you did nothing wrong."_

"_Well actually you were running around chasing a bad guy when you knew that you were told otherwise by your boss, that you have fallen for! Smooth Stella, really smooth!" _For some odd reason she got Flacks image standing in front of her arguing with her. She shook her head, and it hit her.

"Angell! I need to talk to her!" Stella felt like someone poured a gallon of cold water on her. She reached for her cell and started to dial the Detective's number.

"Angell"A young womens voice echoed in her ears.

"Angell, this is Stella, we need to talk..." Stella said, and the nervousness shined through her voice.

"Hey Stella are you ok? You sound weird? Something happened?"Angell hadn't worked that long with Stella but she still could sense that something wasn't quite right about her partner.

"Yeah...we need to meet."

"Sure, can it wait 'till tonight? After shift? Its 8am and we already had a four calls about some homicides, and we are short handed, you know summer vacations and everything. If its urgent though, I can ask Flack to cover for a little. "Angell said, she needed time to really talk to Stella.

"No Angell, it's fine... its just...one of Diako's neighbors saw me; leaving his apartment on the day of the murder. So by the looks of it we will have a lot of time to talk." Stella needed Angell to know, she will take all the heat for it, but it was her fault getting her friend in such trouble. Stella could hear silence on the other line.

"Oh no, how? so...are you a suspect now?"Angell gasped and stammered, she was taken aback by the news.

"I don't know yet, I will find out in a bit though. I'm going to see Mack right now, and Angell I'm taking all the heat for this one, you weren't seen so don't even say anything. This city may loose one Detective but sure in hell it wont be loosing another one!"Stella said roughly.

"Stella don't think bad thoughts. I'll call you as soon as I can and we will talk tonight. Sorry I have to go now."Angell said apologetically.

"Yea sure, go do your job, catch some bad guys for me."

"Sure thing, see ya Stell" Angel answered sympathetically.

"Thanks, bye."Stella hung up the phone.

She exhaled, it seemed like she was holding her breath. Curly haired Detective turned around and headed for the door to see Mac.

Moments later she walked up to Macs clear office and found him buried in paper work, she looked at him for a moment and sighed. She took a deep breath and knocked on his see through glass door.

**We are so evil, leaving you with a cliffi (evil laugh). **

**Psst...yea you! there is white button with green letters that can do magic things!! **


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything except for a phone and my laptop. CSI NY and the fine characters belong to Mr. Zuiker. I just couldn't wait for another episode, and this was in my head for a while bugging me.**

**Thank you for my beta and co-writer MAJA (aka MrAprilfoolsWatanuki) for helping me. I'm not going to update for couple of days so Maja could catch up on her own writing, and because my muse hates me right now. **

**Another THANK YOU is to all that added this story to favorites, alerts, and who commented! You made me and Maja super happy!**

**HAPPY EASTER for all who celebrate, and enjoy this chapter!!!!**

Stella knocked and Mac looked up. Stella could feel the nervousness slowly coming back to her. She saw Mac's eyes, but she couldn't read any emotions in his eyes or face; which scared her even more. He had his famous "poker face" on, but she knew that this also means trouble for her.  
After a few seconds of them just looking at each other, Mac motioned with two fingers for her to come in. Stella nods and slowly walks in, she felt like she was in the high school going into her principals office, after doing something bad. _Very _bad.

Mac however saw mixed emotions in her eyes, sadness, anger, regret...then he looked at her face and he realized that she looked awful. He could tell from the years of working with Stella that she didn't sleep so good either. It made his heart brake, but he didn't show it, he didn't want to be rough on her and break her heart but, he was also her boss.

"Hey Mac..." Stella spoke.  
"Let's not make it hard for each other and just get to the point" Mac's words pierced like ice through her heart, but she stood and listened.  
"Ok, sure"Stella said and bit her lower lip to regain some sort of control when she felt the pain she caused, "_I can't break down, not now", _she said to herself as she looked up to face Mac.  
"As you know, you were seen by one of the neighbors in Sebastian Diako's apartment at the night of his murder." Mac said and Stella nodded and just kept listening.  
"You violated a direct order from your superior and decided to do things your own way...so considering that its your first offense; I'm going to give you a two week suspension from work..."

"What the hell am I, ah...some kind of a criminal that you are trying to change somehow?" Stella was furious with Mac and shot him an angry glare as she spoke.

"Stella out of all people, you should know better than that, you risked your own life and reputation of this lab, and your own ca..." Stella made Mac more furious with her remarks.  
"Sure you are more worried about the lab's reputation then safety of other people?" Stella suddenly snapped, cutting Mac off.  
"Stella, I would watch my words if I were you, and don't criticize what I do. Out of all people you should know perfectly well that I care about the safety of people who work here just the same way as the people that are living in this city." Mac was shocked, he couldn't control himself anymore.

"And what do you think I was trying to do here?"

"Yeah I know, you took this case too personally and tried to do things your own way! Do you know what you got yourself into?"

"Yes, when I went there I understood..."

"No you didn't, Stella you can be a suspect for Christ's sake! I know how you're passionate about all your cases but this is crossing the line, and you know well that internal services can check all of your cases if they will find out. You would have to get re-evaluation, and worst your...our solved cases, where you handled evidence can be compromised, and think of all those people that will go free."

"He attacked me on the Subway, he threatened me Mac, I had no choice!"

"You did have choice, and let me ask you one question; do you really want to end up like Aiden? One bad guy is not worth losing your life over, and risking lives of others." Mac finished. Just on a cue his phone beeped and he saw a message: _"2db's on 3rd and Lincoln"_

Stella was taken aback by his words, she felt goose bumps all run down her spine. She never thought about it until Mac actually mentioned it, and it scared her.

Mac sighed, and looked at a shocked Stella.

"So if you don't have any further questions you may go now..." Mac continued to talk with his calm boss voice now. "...For now you are off from every case you were working on, when you will come back you are going to be assigned to work with me on some cases. You are not allowed to do any lab work until Diako's murder will be closed. Its just a precaution so your past and future evidence won't get compromised. If I need to supervise you now so be it, but you're not getting into anymore trouble." Mac finished his speech never taking eyes from Stella her emotions still kept changing as she carefully analyzed all words that came out of his mouth. Inside however he hated doing it, if someone would give him an option to go and clean the toilets in the subway or arguing with Stella he would chose the first option without any hesitation.

Stella then frowned, she looked angry and confused.  
"Mac...huh...this is ridiculous. Mac ok fine I can do the whole supervision thing but I'm confused now..."

"What are you confused about?" Mac asked arching his left eyebrow.

"If I was seen by Diako's neighbors, and I am not trying to prove you wrong or anything, I'm just trying to understand this for my own. If you say that I was seen then why am I not considered a suspect then huh?" Stella said. She was calm and confused at the same time but she searched for some answers in Mac's face, which was changing again to a blank unreadable expression that always gave her a dead end, but the way his lips made a thin line she could feel that whats coming next she wouldn't like. This made her suspicion grow even more, _"he's hiding something"_ Stella thought silently.  
"Stella I can't disclose any information right now to you...at least not here." Macs features softened just a little and then went back to the infamous "stone face"."You're not on the case, you are suspended. Now, I have a scene I need to be at." Mac said very roughly, anger evident in his voice.  
"Great, just great Mac!" Stella looked coldly at Mac cursed under her breath, turned around and left office of furious a Mac, walking fast through the hallway she glared at Mac and he held her angry gaze following her through the hall of the Crime Lab.

**R&R please!!!! You would make me the best present on earth!!! Don't be shy to criticize I don't bite.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Do not own anything. CSI: New York and all of the characters belong to clever Mr. Zuiker who's totally suffocating me with the season finale!!!!! (sorry)**

**A/N: Hope everyone had a good Easter. I did but Monday after wasn't so good at work:s Anyways here is another chapter, and I'm done with the next one. So if you want me to update faster Review and make my mood jump to all time high!!!**

**Thanks to all who review (you guys deserve a fruit basket!!! write your address and I will sent you one:))) And of course I owe like a year of fruit baskets to MrAprilfoolsWatanuki for helping me and beating and helping me with my muse...**

Mac held Stella's glare until she disappeared behind a wall of his office. He cursed under his breath, this talk turned out to be much harder then he thought it could possibly be. He was mad at her, and she was clearly pissed at him, no doubt about that. _"How bad can this day__ possibly__ get?"_ Mac muttered, and took couple of deep breaths and left his office to go to his crime scene.

After Mac parked his Avalanche on the curb of the street, he got out and walked in between two tall gray buildings, he saw Flack who was talking to one of the officers.

Flack turned around and saw Mac approaching so he excused himself and started walking towards him.  
Mac stopped and looked at the two dead bodies laying just about ten feet away from him and the tall Detective looking at his notepad.

"Double homicide, no id's, they were found by a couple of kids who were looking for a ball." Flack said in autopilot motion. He knew all the questions before they were even been asked.  
_"Why doesn't th__is__ surprise me" _Mac thought.

"Ask around maybe someone saw anything." Mac suggested.  
"Already did, nothing..." Flack answered, shrugging and looked at his buzzing cell phone, he clicked the screen off and started to read the content as he let out a frustrated sigh.

"Great another DB, what do they have a marathon today? Its like a 4th call this morning..."

"Hey Flack, do these two look familiar to you somehow?" Mac asked cutting off annoyed Flack.

The tall Detective took couple of steps kneeling down beside his partner, and looked down at two lifeless, almost blue shade bodies of a male and a female lying on the white concrete. He looked at two faces and they looked very oddly familiar somehow.  
"Now that you mention it...yeah...they do, but I can't remember where I seen them." Flack said thoughtfully.  
"Does Sebastian Diakos ring a bell?" Mac said, Flack's eyebrows jumped in recognition of that name, then his brain processed the night of the call. He concentrated, he wasn't trying to leave out any detail, and then in a flash it came to him.  
"Yeah...yeah...his neighbors?...think...you think Diakos' killer forgot something, came back and saw those two looking out of their apartment?" Flack asked.

"They did say that they were looking through a peephole, and when they saw that the person was gone from Diako's apartment they came out of their apartment, and knocked on his door to check up on him." Mac said carefully remembering the statement that he personally from them."Well we will find out sooner or later." he signed

"Hey Mac, I will be on the other case with Stella, just in case you need anything. Oh! And call if you have any info, this case is getting more and more interesting for every minute that passes."  
Macs brows arched with surprise. "Stella responded to a dispatch call?"  
"Nope, but she is the only one I haven't seen yet on any scenes today, and I know it's not her day off, which means I will see her on the next call." the blue eyed detective explained.

"Wow, I never knew you were so observant, but no you won't see her. She's on a leave for two weeks." Mac said and then his memories of the fight they had this morning came back to him and his face changed, putting his emotions back into his npissed off stage.  
"What? Why? Is she ok? Stella never takes days off, and two weeks?" Flack asked with concern.

Even though they weren't that close but they looked after each other. Flack never showed it but somehow what Frankie did to her still hung heavily over his shoulders. He hated that day, even after almost three years he could still feel that something had changed inside of Stella.

"She's fine, and didn't you have another scene to get to?! She just needs sometime to cool off." Mac said as he was trying hard to control his anger. He didn't want Flack to know about the incident in Diakos' apartment, it just gave him security that the less people knew about it the better he could sleep at night.

Meanwhile Flack studied Mac's thoughtful face and it hit him, _"Oh no, they had a fight, didn't they." _he thought.  
"You guys had a fight didn't you?" Flack knew, and recognized the look on Mac's face every time he had a fight with Stella, it was so obvious. He could recognize that face any day, any time of the day. When he and Peyton were dating and they had a fight he never seemed to be as upset as he is when he had an argument with Stella.

"Flack, you got a crime scene to get to!" Mac snapped and avoided the question at the same time.  
Flack shook his head and turned around and headed for the end of the alley where his car was parked.

**Like it hate? Should I continue or just give up on the idea???????? R&R (face it the button is calling)**

**PS I accept anonymous reviews so don't hesitate to review!!!! **


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything (sadly:s). All of the CSI's and victims belong to Mr. Zuiker and CBS (lucky ppl!!!). My muse couldn't wait for another episode so I had to let it out. **

**Thank you for all your reviews and alerts. Next chapter will be fluffy (I need to give you guys some break from drama), but not for long. MrAprilfoolsWatanuki(my beta and inspiration) knows what I'm talking about:) **

Mac was processing a scene where two elderly people were murdered very violently, examining every inch of the scene and taking pictures of the bodies and looking for evidence. He carefully looked at the area around the bodies looking for something that would get him any closer to their cold blooded murderer. By the looks of the crime scene this was just a dump place. The former marine saw no blood pool, no drag marks on the pavement.

"You can take them, send it to M E's office as soon as possible" Mac ordered to couple of young transporter officers.

When the two young transporters left, Mac carefully scanned the disturbed area again inch by inch but still he couldn't find anything that would indicate that this actually was the primary crime scene.

Middle aged officer sighed heavily, he was tired, he needed coffee and the heat of the sun didn't help his already fried brain to think. Mac pulled his cell out and dialed Flacks number.

"Flack." he heard a response on the other line of his phone. Mac could tell that heat of the humidity didn't only effect him, his co-worker had the same effect by it.  
"Flack, I think this is not our primary crime scene, we need to go to the desists apartment and look at it."-Tired ex-marine said while wiping away sweats that been building up on his forehead.  
"Sure Mac. I'm almost done here, and I'm about five minutes away from the deceased apartment."-Blue eyed officer said in response.  
"Ok see you in about 15 minutes" Mac said and hung up.

Mac walked through the long hallway of the apartment complex, he saw his co-worker with a short, heavy, old man who was trying to open up the apartment. By the scene that was in front of him Mac could tell the guy was a manager.  
When Mac got closer he spoke: "Hey Flack, ready to open that door?"  
"Yeah, I thought you were going to miss all the fun. Oh...mister Peter this is Detective Mac Taylor from the crime lab and Mac, this is Peter Miller manager of this lovely building." Flack said with a smirk on his face. Mac and Peter shook hands, and middle aged man pursued back to opening the apartment door.

When the door was unlocked Mac and Flack carefully looked at their surroundings and they were shocked, it was as and as undisturbed as if the owners just left it for couple hours, like if they would have gone for some shopping.

The three men were standing in the door way looking speechlessly at the neatly cleaned and cozy apartment. Mac sighed and said: "Well we're in for a ride!"-Flack looked at Mac twisting his mouth sideways and nodding at the remark.

Former Marine set his science kit down and started from the front door to process the apartment.

When Mac finished it was already 7pm and he was stuck.  
"Find anything?"-Mac looked around his shoulder and saw Flack. The blue eyed officers face matched his low tired voice. Flack knelled down beside frustrated ex-marine who was sighing very loudly.

"Well I can tell you one thing, our murderer cleans up very well his scenes." Mac sighed and looked at Flack who raised his eyebrows.

Shortly after two Police officers left the building of the elderly couple.  
"I'm so glad this day is over, can't wait to go home. How about you Mac?" Flack asked.  
"Probably get some coffee and just head back to the lab, or even just go home and sleep. Week without sleeping properly and with constant tension takes its toll. But I will still have to make one more stop before I'm done for the day."

Flack thought about Mac's words and realized that he was right."Yea especially if we get a busy week with heat and dead bodies just like today, I would really want to get an extra hour of sleep."-Tall slim officer said with a smirk

Mac smiled and looked down at the black pavement that still didn't cool due to extreme humidity, and went back to his thoughts about everything that happened.  
Moments later they said their goodbyes and Mac was driving out from the parking lot of "Luxury apartments" toward his last stop of the day.

**I got the next chapter done so as soon as I get those reviews I will post the next chapter!!! So let R&R madness begin:p**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything (sadly). CSI: NY and all the characters belong to CBS and Mr. Zuiker. I couldn't just wait for the end of the season, so my hands started to type on my phone the idea.**

**Thank you for all the alerts and everyone who commented. To you all we give you this Chapter. I know its long but I wont update for a while. So enjoy:) **

**Spoiler: I like twists in a story:) So buckle up your up for a nice ride:) :)**

Stella was curled under a blanket on her vanilla colored couch. The petite woman was hugging a pillow, and watching a movie. She wanted to take her mind off of the day, and the fact that she had an unexpected vacation. She had sorted out her business with Angell earlier that day, and now she had nothing to do but to sit and do just … nothing.  
As much as Stella like her movie the lack of sleep in the previous three days took its toll, she was dozing in and out of the movie.

The Greek detective stirred when she heard a knock again on her door and winched at the sound. _"Eeghhh...not...again..." _she said cursing under her breath.  
Then she heard a knock again on her oak colored door. The curly haired woman lazily stood up from her couch and wrapped her blanket around her shoulders, at the same time pausing the movie she was watching.

Stella rubbed her tired eyes while walking to her door. She cleared her throat and unlocked her main lock leaving the upper chain in tacked.

The sight in front of her made her already numb feet weak. Shocked, the Greek woman saw Mac with a soft smile and tired looking eyes staring at her and holding pizza in his other hand.  
"Hey" Mac said with a low deep voice, slightly tilting his head.  
The petite woman sighed and said coldly: "What do you want?" still looking at him through a narrow space, her mind floated back to the events of the morning.  
"Can I come in? Or should I come back?" The Ex-marine said hesitantly realizing that they might fight again.  
Stella felt a lump in her thought, she pressed her lips together, took a deep breath and closed the door.

The dark blue eyed detective raised his eyebrows and was almost ready to turn and leave when he heard door fully open again. He saw a beautiful, tired, petite woman standing next to her now fully opened door, he saw a thin blanket wrapped around her petite body.

Stella swallowed and moved away from the entrance so her boss could come in.  
Mac walked in her apartment standing couple feet away from her. Stella closed her door and leaned against her door crossing her arms. There was this extreme tension between them. The air almost quivered around them, anticipating what's coming next.

Mac spoke first before she had a chance to open her mouth:"Stella...listen I came to make peace with you."  
Stella's eyebrows arched up. "And just how are you going to make that?"  
"I brought pizza..." The boss of the CSI Crime Lab smiled and his deep blue eyes sparked, and Stella's heart skipped a beat and her mouth broke into a smile.  
"Well you have to do more then just pizza..."-Stella concentrated trying to make her face look much more serious. Stella knew for a fact that she can not stay mad at Mac for more than a while.

Mac's face suddenly went serious. "My two sides debated weather or not to tell you this..." Mac sighed. The Greek woman in front of him suddenly got nervous inside, she suddenly got her lump back, her face stiffed when she said "So...which side won?"

"Your friends' side...I want to answer your questions about you not being a suspect..."

"Mac you don't have to...I don't want to put your lab at risk, or do anything to compromise future evidence." Stella said and her words pierced through his heart like thousand knifes. She realized her words were too harsh and she added "Sorry...it came out wrong."

"Stella, what is bugging you? The fact....that...I dismissed you this morning?...What is it?" The middle aged man could feel his anger level to rise a notch again, he hated when the meaning of his life just locked him out like this.

"I don't know Mac...the case is bugging me." The tired woman in front of him said rubbing her forehead.  
"Ok, then, put yourself in my shoes..." The petite woman was about to say something. "But before you do say anything just hear me out ok? Please?"

Stella's heart leaped just a bit at the sight of desperation, and her anger was vanished. She sighed and said "Fine, wanna sit?"

"Sure, so Sebastian Diakos kills two people for Greek artifacts, threatens you, and after seeing you at the Greek ambassadors he sends you a message that puts you over the edge, am I right so far?" Stella nods. "So you try to find anything to make sure you get Diakos, even though your boss told you otherwise. Couple weeks later...you...somehow find out where Diakos lives and you find him dead, and call 911."  
"Yep, that's it" Stella nods, and it makes her feel better but also adds guilt on her shoulder that he doesn't know about Angell.  
"Well, I believe that there is someone who is much more powerful stands above Diakos, which means Diakos slipped up."  
"Yes, bad news for us that Diakos will either be replaced or who ever had the brilliant idea to start this mess will lay low for a while."

"Good point Stella, now back to your little adventure. His neighbors saw you leaving his apartment, when I asked them to give me a description and they told me that a medium height, curly haired, slim women walked out his apartment. They gave me description of the clothes and it sounded like you. So I showed them your picture and they said that it was you."Stella got her suspicion confirmed that he had covered for her.  
"But you, just didn't put me as a suspect...how?" she spoke and her lump was coming back.  
"Ah, yes, that's why your my best detective..." Stella smiled at his words and her heart skipped couple beats.

When I ran their id's through the database it revealed that they had a record, and it was longer than your 'to do list before you die'. So their testimony couldn't be liable. Wait don't say anything yet..." Mac could read Stella's eyes "...remember when I got a call this morning about a murder?"

"...you found them as your db's." Stella continued her boss' sentence.  
"Yep, dead end, nothing in the alley, and their apartment was clean." Mac said looking into Stella's turquoise eyes. The two detectives caught each others gaze and neither wanted to let go they just sat and stared then Stella finally spoke.

"Forgive me?" Macs eyebrows jumped up in surprise. "For what?"  
"Disobeying you, acting recklessly..."  
"Stella..." Mac cut her off and reached out and cupped her right cheek. "...I'm not mad at you Stell, I just...sometimes...especially that time in my office...I saw Aiden standing there telling me about Dj Pratt...and next thing I know you are doing your own investigation." Mac swallowed hard and bit his lower lip.

"Stell...I.." Mac found himself getting close to Stella's face, he could feel her warm breath crashing against his tan face "I...hmm" Mac silently cursed his beeping cell phone, he looked at it and saw a text "your autopsy on 'Adams' is ready". "Great" Mac said in a quiet, annoyed voice.

"What?" Stella spoke softly looking down at the irritated and confused man in front of her, she looked for his eyes while her brain tried to figure out what just happened.  
"Sid is on vacation for two weeks so we got a short term replacement. So they just got to my 'Adams' bodies, oh...the nei..."  
"...boors" Stella finished Mac's sentence and the tired detective gave her a warm smile, a little nervousness about previous five seconds evident in his eyes. Stella, however ignored it.

"I got good news for you though." Mac said suddenly remembering the reason he came.  
"...Really? So there are more good news huh?" Stella was surprised.  
"Well, you're back in the lab again in two days...first thing in the morning." Stella's eyes widened and her mouth dropped. Then she looked down and started laughing, her lump took its toll and she started crying. "What? Bu...but...how...why?!!" Stella stammered.

"Well first of all you look tired and I know you haven't slept in a while so take a day off," Mac's big hand reached and started to wipe away his sweetheart's tears. "secondly..." he continued "the only two people that saw you are on the ME's desk, and since I never recorded their testimony, you're clean, and back in business again." Mac said. Stella's eyes lightened up and she jumped and started hugging the smiling detective. His heart started to beat in excitement and he smiled at a happy Stella.

He loved seeing her smile and being happy like a four year old kid who got her lost toy back. He hugged her back. "But this is only in one condition, that you have to follow... or no two actually"  
Stella pulled back leaving their faces at a short distance from each other. Stella looked at Mac's half smiling face now.

"First, you will go and get a goodnight sleep, and for the second..." Mac's face turned serious "You have to follow my orders, because I cant afford to loose you Stell, and you will still be assigned to work with me. Ok?" Stella smiled, her eyes sparkled at the words of the stunning detective in front of her.

"Sounds perfect...but can you keep me posted on the Diakos' case? Please Mac." The tired detective saw her pleading emerald eyes and he couldn't resist, he smiled and said: "Stell, I will keep you posted, but it will be outside of work..ok?" The curly haired woman couldn't disagree.

"Sounds good Mac, thanks." Stella smiled sweetly and hugged Mac again. Her blanket fell completely off her and on the floor revealing her brown tank top and pink pajamas. Stella's touch sent chills down Mac's spine.  
"I have to go now, before my new ME leaves me in the back of the line." Mac sighed and wiped away a stray tear out of her eye. Mac didn't wanted to go or pull away from warm, soft, body, of his sweetheart, but he did, and he dreaded leaving her, but work called.

"Yeah, I know." Stella said still smiling, she understood. Always.  
Mac stood up and started to walk towards Stella's oak door. The medium built ex-marine turned around and whispered softly "Good night, Stell" The way he said it made her stomach get filled with butterflies, and she gasped for air quietly.  
She smiled her eyes sparkling at the only person in the room "Good night, Mac" she whispered back which made the brown haired detective feel something forgotten to him like a kick in the stomach. He reached for the black doorknob and turned it making door ajar, and walked out. Stella followed and closed the door behind him, listening to his footsteps dying in the quiet hallway of her apartment building. She smiled and went to put away Mac's pizza, and following his orders, she went straight to bed, not wanting to think about anything else than Mac and how they almost kissed.

**Love it hate it? Let me know!!! PLZ!!!! I'm running a cold so please make me feel better:)**


	8. Chapter 8

_**Disclaimer: Don't own anything (sadly). All character belong to CBS and Mr. Anthony Zuiker. I will put them back promise.**_

_**THANK YOU FOR ALL THAT ARE STICKING AROUND AND WANT TO HEAR MORE. WELL LIKE I SAID YOUR IN FOR A NICE BUMPY RIDE. SO BUCKLE UP. **_

_**THANK YOU TO MY BETA AND MY SECOND VOICE WHO HELPS MY POOR WRITING SKILLS OUT:) MAJA (MRAPRILFOOLSWATANUKI)**_

_**ENJOY!!!**_

The elevator doors opened with a loud clang and Mac stepped out to the buzzing hall of lab techs and police officers. Just like New York City, the crime lab never sleeps. Night shift changes to day shift, and some overtime workaholics still hang around once and a while, just like he use to do.

The heavy metal elevator doors opened again and Mac stepped out to a quiet low lit hallway of the morgue. He nodded to a couple detectives who were walking out and chatting about some case they've been working on.  
Mac walked further into a room where all the autopsies were held and he looked over at the two familiar bodies laying on the cold stainless steel bed, with stitches like a Y just beneath the neck.

Mac tapped his fingers on the cold metal, he was tired and impatient and then just out no where he heard that familiar vice, Mac knew he had heard it before but just couldn't remember where. Mac turned around and to his surprise, he saw the petite, short woman, with dark brown hair and blue eyes holding a vanilla colored folder in her right hand and joking about something with another ME.  
Peyton Driscoll.  
"Oh, Detective Taylor" her words made his eyebrows jump up to his brown hairline. Mac's smile that he had glued onto his face from earlier when he left Stella's apartment faded away immediately, leaving him with his professional facial expression looking at the woman in front of him.  
"Well, you are the last person I expected to see." Mac mumbled, slightly confused and wondered quietly what she was doing here.  
"Mac.." she heard the supervisor of the NYC crime lab mumble under his breath, but could still hear pretty well what he just had said and tried to defend herself.  
"What can you tell me about the vics?" Mac cut Peyton off he certainly not wanted to hear anything from her. He won't let her get to him again, not now. Mac clenched his jaw shut to prevent more unwanted words stumble out from his mouth. He right away saw spark of hurt flash in Peyton's eyes.  
The woman nodded at him looking at the bodies in front of her, lying on the cold metal autopsy table. "Well, I can tell you that they didn't die a painful death at least. Their necks were cracked, in a place where they couldn't feel any pain." she pointed to the lower section of one of the victim's neck.  
"Any bruises, marks, trace, fibers...?" Mac asked Peyton, he tried to get to the bottom of this story.  
"Nothing. I did however found a hair on one of the vics." the petite woman said showing her colleague a plastic bag with a red seal on it."Do you want me to send it to trace?"  
"No that's fine I'll drop it off on the way out." The ex-marine said before taking the clear bag from the ME in front of him.

Peyton's heart was shattered into a million pieces by the coldness of Mac's words and his actions. She looked at his deep blue eyes that didn't show any signs of emotions, just his professional face. Mac looked at the hair in the bag and offered her a small smile and started to turn when he heard the familiar voice bring him back to reality and away from his deep thoughts.  
"Mac..." he turned around, and looked at the pleading woman in front if him "...I...can...you...know...it's my break right now and I was wondering if we could grab some coffee... if you want?" she burned off a small smile to complement her question and begging eyes.  
Mac sighed and clenched his jaw, "Peyton, I worked for three days straight on a homicide, I'm sorry I need to go...now."  
"Can we meet some other time, like lets say...tomorrow?" Peyton tried again working her charms on the tired man in front of her.  
"Payton...I...hhmm...ok, fine...at ten, around in the..."  
"...in our coffee shop?" the English dark haired woman smiled a satisfied smile, at the medium height detective in front of her.

Mac however wasn't thrilled with the idea. He bit his lower lip and nodded turning and walking away. "Oh boy" all that he could hear in his mind.

_**SO WHAT TO YOU THINK? SHOULD I BE HANGED???**_

_**R&R ARE GREATLY APPRETIATED.**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**DISCLAIMER: Don't own anything (if I did they would be together now.)**_

_**Since many of you decided to hang me for Payton, as soon as I got this chapter beted I decided to post it. I got more chapters written so as soon as I see lots of heartwarming reviews I will post another one:)**_

_**Thank you to Maja for betting and helping me organize my thoughts. **_

_**Enjoy......**_

Mac walked in to the small coffee shop where he and Peyton had decided to meet the previous day, the next morning and saw Peyton already sitting in the booth waiting for him. He didn't know why she came back now, and wanted why she wanted to talk to him. Mac thought the last time they met, they had gone separate ways.

Peyton saw him looking at her and her mouth curved with to a small smile that lit her whole face up.  
Mac moved and sat down across from the English woman.  
"Hi, I'm glad you came" she said still smiling at the officer.  
"What did you want to talk about?" The ex-marine asked the woman in front of him, still having the serious look glued onto his face.  
"Well I was wondering if we could catch up on some things, it feels like million years ago since I last saw you." she said placing her small hand over his long thick fingers. Mac jerked his hand away from the sudden warmth of her hand.  
"Peyton there is nothing between us that still exists, and you made it obvious to me in that letter you wrote."  
"Mac, I know what I wrote, and...I...I...was...wrong Mac. Can we give it another try? Please?" Peyton stammered, and looked at the man sitting on the black chair with tears in her eyes.  
Mac pressed his lips shut and clenched his jaw.  
"Peyton...hmmm...I have to go now, you were right there are some things here that I can't let go off. Thanks to you I know it now." Mac sighed, rose from the chair, and left the small coffee shop and Peyton behind. He couldn't just forget everything that had happen and let her back into his life again. Things had been changed now, and she was the last person he wanted to see.

Mac went back to the lab. He wanted to get Diakos killer, not for the sake Diakos' sake, but he also knew that he would be able to better was concerned about Stella's safety, he wanted to make sure that no one will take her away from him.  
The ex-marine took the small beige hair from a see through evidence bag and placed it in the trace machine. The computer started to searching beeping. He assigned Adam to let him know when he find something.

Mac went back to his office and did some paperwork. He heard a knock on the door and saw Stella walk in. Mac smiled right away, he was amazed how quickly she can brighten up his gloomy day.  
"Hey Mac." a happy voice greeted him. He loved hearing her voice, and he could tell that she was well rested.  
"What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here, I didn't expect to see you until tomorrow."-Mac asked surprised, but happy that she showed up.  
"Mac, do you really think I will stay at home and do nothing, while you have all the fun here?" the curly haired woman smiled, and arched her brown playfully; her boss chuckled. "So do you have anything new?"  
"No new cases, but Peyton found a hair on Elinor Adams." Stella's eyes widened, she felt a ball of lightning go through her body and end at her feet, she felt sick.  
"Peyton? Peyton..." Stella asked just to clarify.  
"...Driscoll yes...she's here" Mac finished, seeing her turn a little bit sad.  
"...and how are you..." Stella knew it will be hard for Mac.  
"I'm ok Stell, I'm a big boy." Mac assured her but he knew, it was hard for him to fake it whenever she was around.  
"...well if you need anything..."  
"....I know Stella..." The ex-marine assured her again.  
"Hey guys I don't mean to interrupt but I got your animal!" Adam rushed in Mac's office.

The lab tech froze when he saw the two of his superiors engaged in a serious conversation.  
"Well?" Stella asked a little impatiently.  
"Oh yeah...the hair that we found is from a lieger...it's a mix of tiger and a lion." Adam said steamed just a little.  
"...a lieger? In NYC? How is that possible?" Stella scoffed.  
"Well its not from here. The hair had some small amount of trace covering it. Its salt."  
"What salt? I'm confused." Stella asked.  
"Well not salt salt, but ocean salt, that is from some region where its hot and its surrounded by salty water, not US its most likely Greece."  
Stella's heart sunk. "Greece? As the...country?"  
"Yep."  
"You sure?" the older detective asked, looking from Stella to Adam.  
"Yep..." Adam assured stammering at the shocked expression of the two older Detectives.  
"Well like they say all roads lead to Greece..." Stella said arching her brows and sighing.

_**PSST!!! You know green color is the new black! So click on the green letters and you can see magic happen!!!**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**Well obviously I don't own anything, if I did Mac and Stella would be happy on their honeymoon right now:p**_

_**Sorry it took me a little while to update, work and finals you know.**_

_**So I hope you like this chapter and if I get like 6 reviews today I'll upload you another chapter later today!!! **_

_**Enjoy....**_

Stella looked at tired Mac. "Hey, when was the last time you slept?"  
The corners of Macs mouth arched to a small smile, "You know me too well."

"You want some coffee?" the curly detective offered concern evident in her eyes. Their eyes locked and Mac said "I..."

"Mac I got some trace on your vic..." Peyton ran into Macs office hastily, she stopped when she saw Mac and Stella locked in intense gaze, it broke her heart seeing these two together. It was so obvious, everything, the only one that didn't knew they loved each other were Mac and Stella. How was she supposed to compete with that, and win?

Mac heard a familiar voice and broke away from warm gaze of emerald eyes that he loved so much, and he knew never would betray him.

Mac and Stella pulled apart and realized that they weren't alone. They both turned and looked at the shocked British ME, who's eyes were opened wide and who's jaw seemed to be touching white tile floor of Mac's office.

Stella quickly looked at her feet and then at Mac. "I'm going to see how Danny is doing." she added quickly before turning around and leaving her boss' office behind. As much as she wanted to stay, her memory of Mac and Peyton together made her sick, and her heart started to crumble again. She knew if she would have stayed she would have killed the blue eyed ME with her hated look. She couldn't understand why this woman broke up with Mac. Stella knew in her heart that if she was in her position she would ditch everyone and be with the only man she loved. _"It's to late for that Stella, she's back and he will be with her...I guess. Don't make it hard for them just move over and let them be. After all you want Mac to be happy right. So move over__. Move on.__" _Stella's thoughts made her feel the lump in her throat come back.

Mac heard her words and tried to process._"Danny? What?" _Mac thought but before he could react she was gone. He re-focused his gaze on the still shocked, and now hurt Peyton.

She saw Mac's eyes shift to hers and she quickly looked at her feet. She tried to show that she didn't notice what just happened, but she knew that despite her act he caught her looking at him.  
"You were saying?" Mac snapped back to reality and saw the brown haired ME standing before him with a hurt look on her face despite the fact that she was trying to hide it. She looked at her feet but he caught her eyes before she looked down. His thoughts of Stella were now gone.  
"Oh, yeah, I looked at your victims again...and I found something that your killer missed, when he washed away all the evidence from the bodies." Peyton said looked at the piece of paper, not making eye contact with the dark blue eyed supervisor. She was happy that Mac changed subject, and hid away all the emotion from his face. She knew though that she would give away herself if she looked at him.

Mac looked at the paper and his eyebrows jumped up. "Skin?"  
"Yes, I guess who ever Laurie Adams tried to hold on to she scratched. I can tell you that your killer will most likely have some scratches that he probably didn't realized about until it was late..." Peyton said briefly looking at Taylor who still not made any attempt to eye contact.  
"So...there...do...you..." She hesitated at first, stammering "....you think you and I are over...?" She finally looked up at standing detective who was still looking at the paper in his hand.

Mac jerked his head back when her sudden words snapped him back to reality. He didn't know what to say, well he knew its just his gentlemen side couldn't just go and hurt her, and he hated it right now.

"Mac...before you say anything...hear me out please...." Peyton decided to take a chance while she had one. "I know that what I wrote to you was wrong...and that I couldn't tell you that in person...but....I realized that I couldn't live without you"

Mac tried to say something but no words came out. "Mac...before you break everything...please think about us...what we had...what we can have...don't throw it all away like this..." She worked her charms around him, she pulled all her militia out to make him change his mind. She felt that he was slipping right out of her hands. She cursed herself for that everyday.

Mac looked down at his feet. _"Damn this woman for ever coming back" _Mac hissed inside. He let out a frustrated sigh and slipped his hand in his right pocket. He watched her leave and his gaze stopped and locked at Stella's face across from his clear office watching the scene between them.

Stella was across the hall and watched the whole scene between Mac and Peyton. _"You better not break his heart again." _Stella murmured under her breath. When she saw his eyes lock with hers she pretended she didn't see him and started to talk to a lab tech next to her about a random thing. "_Stella stop looking at them, you__'re__ so obvious. Grrrr!" _Stella mentally cursed and kicked herself.

Mac sat back down putting his hands on his head and trying to suppress a headache that was slowly forming. _"Great start of the day. Sid please comeback faster!" _Mac was mumbling while massaging his temples to relieve some of the stress that began to build up. He let out a deep sigh and saw Danny running into his office, the look on his face made Mac feel that the young CSI got more bad news.

Stella saw Danny running into Macs office and saw how the facial features changed on Mac's face. Her eyebrow shot up and she saw Mac motioning her to come to his office.  
She looked at shocked CSI and realized that something happened, by the way he was catching his breath she could tell that he ran couple blocks.

"What happened?" She instantly said looking from Mac to Danny.

"Angell's been shot...I think it has to do with Diakos' and Adams family murder" Mac broke her the news.

_**Like it hate it? Should I stop writing?**_


	11. Chapter 11

_**Since you guys been so awesome I'm updating as promised. He he. **_

_**Oh and about Payton don't worry, I will loose her soon. You'll like it.**_

_**I hope you guys enjoy this Chapter and don't forget that those Reviews make me super happy:)**_

Mac and Stella ran to their cars and rushed to the hospital.  
When they got there they saw officers waiting in the waiting room and saw Flack passing covered in blood.

"Flack!"Stella yelled. He looked up and ran towards her and Mac."We came as soon as we heard, what happened?"  
"We, got a lead on Adams killer and we went to question him, when we got his apartment...Jess...went in there and...." Flack's voice broke down with heavy sobs.  
"Oh my God" Stella, swallowed and felt sick to her stomach._ "What have I done?I'm so selfish!!!"_

"Don...Flack" They heard a womans voice call out Flack's name and he jumped and saw a short red haired doctor approaching them.  
"Yes" he answered not knowing whats coming and squeezed his fists, and waiting for the worst.

"I'm nurse Lisa Wynn...Detective Angell...was shot in the heart, two inches to the left and she wouldn't be here. However, she lost a lot of blood because the bullet hit a major artery. She will go into a surgery in a couple of minutes." she said with a serious look.  
Flack swallowed hard, and just stared at the red haired nurse in blue medical suit.  
Stella felt dizzy and she mumbled. "What are her chances, can we get a straight answer professional to professional?" Stella didn't want this conversation to linger to the usual _"We are doing everything we can"_  
The red haired woman sighed heavily, "Well it's hard to say but...the bullet damaged an artery so...we think she won't make it. If she will it would be a miracle, she lost to much blood and time is...ticking. Now if you will excuse me I will go....Doctor Sandlin will give you an update when his done." the nurse gave apologetic look and turned and walked.

Flack tried to hide the tears that were pooling in his blue eyes and just left with a look of sorrow and pain. "I will go and change"  
"Flack! Wa..." Stella was about to rush after but Mac shook his head.  
"Let him go...it's better for him to be alone for a little bit." Mac looked at Stella and took out his phone from his coat pocket.

"Danny..." Mac said when he heard the younger CSI on the other line.  
"Yes," the Italian CSI answered with heavy New York accent.  
"Danny I want you to follow Don. Make sure he doesn't get himself into any kind of problems" Mac said never taking eyes of Stella. The curly haired Greek woman moved around in the hallway, looked at her feet and then decided to sit down in one of the waiting room chairs. Mac sensed that it was something that she felt guilty about. It hurt him just a little that she didn't wanted to open up to him.

"Sure...how's Angell..." Mac snapped back to Danny on the other line. He was trying to figure her out without asking her.  
Mac sighed."Danny...they don't think she will make it, she's going into a surgery right now. I'll let you know when we know."  
Mac heard a sniffle, and then Danny hung up.

The older Detective sat next to Stella.  
Out of the corner of his eye Mac saw a pale Stella fidgeting with her left pinkie. Mac sighed and took her hand in his. The dark blue eyed ex-marine tried to put all the pieces of the puzzle together, all Stella's reactions, answers, the way her eyes watched the nurse, what Flack said, how she reacted.

Stella was taken aback by Mac action, his warm hand felt nice on top of her cold almost blue hand. She once again let Mac down and now she'd let Angell down.

Mac felt her cold hand and frowned. "You cold?"  
"Uh, no...when I'm nervous I...my hands turn cold." Stella rambled and sighed when she couldn't get the right words to leave her mouth. She had millions thoughts running through her head. Million questions, and guilt. It felt like no matter what she did her world was shattering to pieces again. Peyton was back, and was friendly with Mac. Personally she thought it was over between Mac and Peyton, and she was getting Mac to open up again, and even get some chemistry back. Now Jessica was shot, and it was because of her. She felt alone again in this big world, and no one could help her. The Greek woman let out a frustrated sigh and pressed her head against hospital's white wall.

Mac saw how frustrated Stella was and he squeezed her small hand. "Stell, it's going to be ok. I'm with you and I'm not going anywhere."  
Stella turned her head and put on a smile for Mac. She saw worry and helplessness in his deep blue eyes, and he made her feel a little better.

Mac saw her sad eyes that reflected her once again shattered soul, the older detective disregarding her smile that he knew she put on for him. He leaned and took the curly haired woman into a hug.  
Stella felt his strong arms around her, his strong hand gently stroking her curly hair. His hug felt so good, so safe, so right. Everything around her fell, disappeared and nothing mattered. She couldn't suppress her lump and she took a deep breath and she felt tears forming in her eyes. She couldn't hold them back and started to cry. She couldn't stop her falling tears, the more she tried the more they fell.

Mac felt water against his black dress shirt and sobbing Stella in his arms. He pulled her away gently and wiped her tears, her eyes were filled with hurt, regret. He cupped her soft face with his big hands and started to kiss her forehead, then her cheeks, her nose, then he pulled her closer to him and wrapped his arms around her small frame. He gently rocked her in his arms and softly said "Shhh...Ssshhhh....it's ok baby, its ok, she's a fighter...she will pull through this, I'm with you sweety." the older detective kept rocking her and kissing her thick hair. Her face dug deep against his thick neck. Her sobs becoming quieter.  
Stella nodded, and pulled away. Mac reached out and wiped away her tears, placing another kiss on her forehead.

"Mac!" Stella looked past Mac and saw Peyton walking towards them. Stella felt like someone burned her wings, sending her down to earth and making her crash down on the floor of a cold hospital tile.  
"Stupid me...I have to go Mac. She's waiting for you Mac. I'll be at the scene if you need me." Stella stood up, cold air hitting her and making her shiver, she left shocked Mac sitting on a chair alone.

_**I know I'm super evil. He he...Trust me Maja feels your pain.**_


	12. Chapter 12

_**DISCLAIMER: DON'T OWN ANYTHING. JUST WANTED TO PUT MY POINT OF VIEW OUT THERE. **_

_**Thank you for all that leave review, you make me happy, and make this story flow good. Sorry it took me so long to update, I'm compensating by making this one a little longer then usual. I got the story done though, so the more reviews I see the faster I will post a new chapter. **_

_**Thank you to by BETA MrAprilfoolsWatanuki for bearing with me.**_

_**Enjoy.....**_

Stella walked past the police officers, and the people. She shivered inside. She was breaking down, this case, the shooting, Peyton everything was crashing down all at once, her leaving her gasping for breath.  
The curly haired detective stepped into the hot humid air of New York city, the sun was shining and the air was thick and it felt like walking into a steam room. There was no breeze nor a hint of a fresh air.

She reached the Crime Lab and grabbed her kit and started to walk toward her Avalanche. _"I will find this son of a bitch. He crossed the line!" _the Greek woman was furious. Who ever did this just threatened her "family", and she won't let anyone come near and hurt them.

She walked into the crime scene and saw pool of blood in the middle of the living room. The green eyed detective took a deep breath and put down her silver kit on the blue carpet.  
Stella took out her flashlight and started to examine the apartment, collecting samples, and taking pictures of the scene.  
"Thought I'd find you here" Stella felt a shiver down her spine that ended at the tips of her feet, when she heard his deep warm voice. She turned around and saw Mac standing in the doorway in his black dress shirt, with worry was written all over his face.  
The woman in turquoise shirt forced a smile. "Well, where else can I be?"  
"Yeah..." Mac suddenly turned serious, their usual banter were blown away."Stell are you sure you're ok? What happened? You look upset, what happened back at the hospital?"  
Stella looked at her feet and pressed her lips together, swallowing hard. "I'm ok Mac. Don't worry about me, I'm a big girl."  
Stella saw Mac's clear blue eyes turn to a darker shade of blue, she knew that he wasn't buying it, _"Just don't say anything, please, it's hard on me!" _She thought.

Mac nodded,_ "Hh Stella, when are you going to open up to me?!" _he thought.  
"Ok, what do you have here so far?" Mac asked he and decided not to push her. He was hoping that she would tell him, when she was ready. Mac really hoped that she would, before it was too late. Eventually.  
"Well, there was a fingerprint and another blond hair, not human, so hopefully it will get a hit, with the other hair...Peyton found." Stella said kneeling down avoiding making eye contact, and taking more pictures. Peyton's name was hard to say, she knew if she looked up then he could read her.  
"It's not about Peyton coming back?" Mac blurted before he could catch his thoughts.

Stella was caught off guard, she was thinking of things to say, and prayed for someone to call or something to happen so she didn't have to answer his question. Unfortunately for her she had to say something. "Mac, can we talk later? Please, this is hard on me already."

"Ok, sure." Mac didn't like when she avoided her questions, but he decided to let it go. For now.

They processed the scene and went back to the lab. They could feel the tension between them as thick as the humid air outside.

Stella came to the lab and started to process the evidence that she and Mac collected at the apartment. She looked at the beeping computer and something inside told her that she will pull at least one more double. Weather and pressure was starting to give her a slight headache.  
"Adam," she called to the blond short haired lab tech.  
"What can I do for you?" he asked with a bright smile.  
"Can you watch this print if your not busy?"  
"Stell, no problem anything for you." he said a smile hitting his face and his eyes sparkled.  
"Thanks. I need to see Flack." she said taking her rubber gloves off and put them down on the table and walking out.

"Messer." Danny answered.  
"Danny, where are you guys?" Stella asked curiously.  
"Well, hhmm...how can I put this...church right off of 5th" Danny said uneasy. They both knew that Flack wasn't the church type a guy.  
"Ooh, that bad huh? Well hold on, I'll be right there." the curly haired detective sighed.

Stella walked towards the big beige church. The sun was now covered by clouds but still the humidity increased making it almost impossible to walk with clothes around, and breathe.  
She opened a big brown door and saw an empty church only Flack crying his heart out and Danny next to him trying to make him feel better.  
Her heart broke at the sight of her friends and her guilty conciseness made her realize that it was her who made them suffer. She took a deep breath, she felt inside her body as well as her hands start to shiver.  
Stella took a couple steps until she was next to two people. She sat down next to Flack and her heart couldn't handle the pressure.  
The Greek detective tried to be strong but felt a lump in her throat that kept her from saying anything.  
Flack looked up at her and his red tired eyes just killed her inside, making it for her hard to breathe. She leaned close and pulled the middle aged detective to her. He started to cry on her shoulder. "Stella....w...why? I love her so much....I can't let her go..." he said in a quiet muffled voice.  
"Don, don't give up on her! You hear? You will tell your kids stories about today...don't give up on her. She will survive...she can put a guy down with her hand and...don't...she will pull through you'll see." she tried to hold back her own tears, which was harder than it seemed to be. She wanted to put all her strength into him so he would feel better. "Now, all we need to do is, is catch this..."she wanted to swear but her mind gave her a remembrance about their current place she was at and she stopped."well you know what I mean. Now, how about we grab some coffee, and you tell me in detail what happened. Okay?"  
The heart broken detective looked up at his friend and inhaled a shaky breath and began to wipe his eyes with his hands and sniffing, nodding.  
"Good, I brought you some clean clothes." Flack chuckled at the green eyed woman. "You know how to make a guy feel better."  
"Well they do call us New Yorks finest" she smiled.

"Now let's go." Both of them stood up and looked at still sitting Danny deep in his thoughts.

"You coming Messer?"-Flacks voice made Danny snap out of his thoughts.  
"No, you guys go ahead I'll catch up."

Stella ordered some coffee for her and Flack while he changed in the bathroom.  
Her head felt like it was about to explode, the case, the humidity, and not to speak about Mac, were taking its toll. Despite everything she shook her head thinking of a very cold shower and saying words of encouragement. _"You'll pull though this, it's ok."_  
With that in her mind she heard foot steps and saw a man in the distance watching her. Men always gave her looks and attention but this one was different, his look scared her, a person passed by and the guy vanished. She blinked, wiped her eyes, then looked around but didn't see anyone, her heart started to race but she brushed it off thinking she was paranoid, or no? She debated for a second then her heart stopped when she felt someones hand on her shoulder and jumped up, and turned...


	13. Chapter 13

_**DISCLAIMER: DON'T OWT IT (SADLY), DOING IT JUST FOR FUN!!!**_

_**Thanks for gurlz who left me a review (I'm glad you like it), and those that added me to author alert and favored the story, to you I give this chapter!**_

Stella turned and saw a pair of blue eyes those which belonged to a surprised face of Flack frowning at her. She exhaled and closed her eyes so her heart beat would have a chance to could slow down.  
Flack's brow arched "You ok there Stell?"  
"Yeah, sorry you just scared me a little." she said trying to hide the fear in her eyes.  
"Oh sorry, you're not that easily scared. Whats bugging you?" Flack asked cocking his brows.

"Flack I'm ok, I was just thinking and you scared me." She tried reassuring the wondering Detective in front of her.

"Anyways here are my clothes, if you guys might need them as evidence. You know." the tall detective put on a small smile.  
"Sure, Don, can you talk to me about what happened, it's ok if you can't yet." she said searching for his eyes and making sure he was ok.  
"Yeah, gotta do it sometime." Stella forced a smile and nodded.

"Angell and I were at another crime scene when she received a call from the office, that someone called in about seeing a man in the alley dumping two bodies. Description matched the crime scene and the time of death. So we went, we were about two minutes away and didn't even think of calling you guys." Stella could feel his voice breaking again. She placed her hand over his and squeezed it.  
"Well, the apartment belongs to some person by the name of Nikolas Lavos, when we talked to the super he said that he just moved in couple days ago, but he never seen him." Flack said snapping out of the events of Angell's shooting.

Stella frowned, "How convenient, this case just frustrates me. I won't be surprised if he did kill the neighbors and Diakos. No one has a picture or a description of a suspect?"  
"Nope, as far as I know the guy is a ghost."  
"Well hopefully the hair that Peyton found on the vics and in his apartment will match."  
She looked at a frowning Flack and saw his left brow arch, "Peyton? Or am I having some problems with my ears?"  
"No, she's back...for a week I heard, but I think she will stay longer."  
Flack saw the heart broken woman in front of him and felt bad. He hated seeing her like this. Sometimes he was eager to punch Mac for hurting Stella. "And, Mac is...he."Stella looked up and her gaze gave him the answer that made his scoff. "You two amaze me, and sometimes I just want to hit your two stubborn heads together so you can see that you two love each other." Stella was shocked by the outburst.  
"What makes you think...how do you know...?" she started but no words came out.

"Well you have to be blind or dead not to see it, although with a little time even they could get it."  
Stella chuckled, "Well, that would be nice, anyways anything else you want to add to the case?"  
"Nope,"

"Ok then, you wanna go and check on Jessica?" Stella asked, and saw how his eyes darkened and hint of hurt and worry evident in his eyes.  
"That would be nice, I think I'll stay with her until they are done with her surgery. Oh and by the way you and Mac thing, don't hold it off for to long."

Stella looked at him and nodded. _"I wish it was that easy." _she thought.

_**I know its a little slow these two chapters but things will get good again next few chaps. The story is done so as long as you keep reviewing I will update. **_

_**Also if you like this story nominate me (hint hint). **_


	14. Chapter 14

_**DISCLAIMER: DON'T OWN ANYTHING, IF I DID THEY WOULD ALL LIVE.**_

_**I'm trying to get as much updated as I can. I'm going on vacation for the next week (actually on Friday so you may or may not see update from me.) I will try to do some updating from my phone but no promises.**_

_**Thank you for those who review, my day going like hell today so please make me feel better. I swear I'll kill my boss someday. GRRR!!!! Sorry. **_

_**Oh and I got another idea for my next story so I hope you'll stick around.**_

Stella stepped out of the elevator and headed straight to the lab to see Adam.  
"Hey, how's it going?"

The young tech looked at Stella and said. "Sorry nothing, I'm running through every data base, I think we should try to do it through the airport system."

Stella cocked her left eyebrow. "For a lab tech you're pretty good."

Adam smiled shyly, and punched in some numbers and several different names showed up. "Ok so we got about 20 names, any specific ones you are interested in?"  
"What is the time frame on those?"  
"2 months stretch,"  
"Ok, now try to narrowing it down to the first timers maybe."  
"Um we got two Melina Klabasa, and Nikolas Lavos."  
"Ooh I'm interested in Mr. Lavos, is there any way you can pull his print and see if it matches to the print that we pulled earlier today?"  
"Sure, I'll let you know as soon as I can."  
"Thanks" now all she had to do is wait for him.  
"Stella actually hold on. When first time visitors come their fingerprints come automatically into the system."  
"Let's see then"  
"Ok we got them, and yes it is him, oh and it looks like his plane departed with him on board this afternoon."  
"Ok, at least we know his name, picture, and where he went." Stella said with a sad voice.

On the way to Mac's office she spotted Peyton in the break room pouring some coffee. She walked in. "Hey Peyton" Stella greeted the dark haired woman.  
"Hey Stella, what can I do for you?" She said with a smile on her face.  
"Let me put it this way, I know you came back not for the job in US, but for Mac." Peyton was about to say something but Stella held up her hand. "Let me finish. When you broke up with him you left him heartbroken and devastated. Which brought him back to his 9/11 stage. I care for Mac a lot and you're a very lucky woman for him to even look your way. Now, listen to me very very carefully. If you break his heart one more time Peyton, or I see or feel even a hint of hurt in his eyes or voice that was caused by you. It will be my personal mission to make sure that you will find out what it feels like to lay on those metal beds in the ME's office."  
"Is that a threat?" the English woman asked with a smirk on her face.  
"Nope, that's a promise" Stella said with a dead serious face and left the English woman shocked in the break room.

Stella walked in front of Macs office not willing to take a step forward, she saw him sitting in his desk talking to someone on the phone. She took a deep breath,_ "Stella...you will be fine, just look at him for the last time and just go." _She thought while playing with her right finger, she felt a little shiver and her hands becoming cold again. Her gut told her that she will be interrogated about her responses at the crime scene.  
She carefully knocked on the glass door and Mac motioned to her to come in.  
"Hey Stella, just got off the phone with Flack, Angell is out of surgery. They couldn't get the bullet out. That's the only thing that's keeping her alive. You got anything for me."  
"Oh yeah, Adam and I processed all the evidence we found and what Peyton found on the Adam's vics are also a match. Finger print came to a name: Nikolas Lavos who came to US from Greece last month and left couple hours after Angell got shot." Stella said.  
"Ok, better then nothing. Can we go talk somewhere?"  
"Mac what do you want to talk about?"  
"Why are you over reacting so much right now, what happened in the hospital?"  
"Well I'm sorry if Peyton saw us hugging. It was an accident."  
"So that's how you consider my feelings now, and what does Peyton has to do with any of this? Ok, sorry I tried to help. What about Angell? You look guilty Stella." Mac said hurtfully.  
Stella was torn, confused and frustrated at the same time _"So he really cares for me? What he did at the hospital was genuine? He called me 'baby'. This man confuses me so much!!!"_  
"Mac listen I didn't mean what I said. Its to hard for me Mac!"  
"What is hard for you?"  
"This, Peyton, you, Diako's case, Angell shot because of me..." she realized the last part she said out loud. She sighed and looked at the shocked Mac, _"nice going Stella,"_ "Angell helped me with the coin case, that's how I found out about where Diakos lived. Mac, I know I violated everything and probably killed every bit of friendship we had for years, but this is personal and...I'm going to turn the badge and my gun before you...say anything. I don't want anyone else to get hurt, especially you Mac." she took her gun and badge and placed it on the glass table. She saw how speechless Mac was. "I'm sorry if I broke your heart Mac, and it was a great pleasure working with you Detective Mac Taylor." she forced a smile. Turned on her heels and left. _"I'm not going to cry in front of him." _

_**I'm in a such a crappy mood right now, I hate days like that!!!!! GRRRRRRRR!!!!! Sorry.**_


	15. Chapter 15

_**DISCLAIMER: WELL YOU GUYS KNOW THE DRILL.**_

_**Thank you for all the leave a review for me, and making me all happy!!!. I might like update one more time, tomorrow morning. I'll try to update during vacation but no promises.**_

_**OMG I like squealed over yesterdays episode (Mac, Stella., I thought that they might say their I love you's during the end of the episode. *jumps again and squeals* I know pathetic thats what my parents told me. Lol. Ok so I'll stop with the babble. Enjoy.**_

Mac tried to say something but like in a blink of an eye, she was gone. He looked for her but couldn't find her, "NO!" he thought. The shocked detective ran out of the room and looked for Stella. He went to her office but he realized that she was gone already. Not noticing the people around him, who were sending him some odd glances.

Stella looked at the familiar building and smiled a sad smile. Her best years have been spent inside of the walls of this building. Next to a good team, Aiden, Danny, Lindsay, Sheldon, Flack, Jess, Mac. Her heart was pinched by the thought of that name._ His name._ "He has her Stella." She brushed away her heartache, turned and waved at the yellow cab driving by, to her surprise it stopped.

Mac was running down the hall down to the entrance. He saw the Greek woman standing and taking the last glances around, he saw her smile and then he saw another thought run through her sad face and her smile had faded, he saw her beautiful eyes water, and then she just frowned shaking her almost reached the door when he saw her slipping into the yellow cab and left. The sight made him scream inside. "No," the devastated Detective gasped, trying to catch his breath.  
He walked back upstairs, he saw the glances from his curious colleagues follow him. He didn't care, the only person he cared about was gone.

Stella stepped out of the airport and felt warm sun on her skin right away, it wasn't hot or cold it was perfect. She smiled as a nice white taxi came and a dark skinned old guy spoke to her in Greek offering her ride to her hotel.  
Greece was so different from the US. The houses were smaller, even cars were a lot smaller, the roads in some parts of the streets weren't as nicely paved as they are in New York but it was still nice and unique.  
The scenery kept her aching heart and her mind off Mac but once in a while she saw some people that reminded her about her and Mac.  
She once again shook her head and let all the thoughts of Mac disappear for a moment _"H__e's__ ok he probably doesn't even remember __me__ by now. He got her..."_ focusing on the case that made her world as she knew it disappear, to shades around her.

She looked around her new "home" and sighed. It was nice but it didn't feel like home. She took a nice long cold shower, for some reason it made her think better. She took the rest of the day off so she could plan her next moves. Stella knew some people on the local police station that the professor introduced her to, it made her feel easier, not the way she felt with Mac but it is better than nothing.  
She settled in the apartment's nice couch just listening to a quiet swaying of the waves crashing against the rocks of the beach. She loved the noise it calmed her heated nerves, she smiled pulling her blanket closer to her face.

As she lay on her couch she started to remember all the times she and Mac had shared together, when they met when they fought, made peace. He was there along the way, she felt tears in her eyes. This time she couldn't stop her sorrow. The curly haired ex-detective started to sob into a vanilla colored pillow until she felt tired and exhausted dozing off allowing her dreams to take charge and comfort her wounded soul.

A soft knock on the door made her snap out of her pleasant dreams, at first she thought that it was just her brain messing with her, but when she heard couple other knocks she stood up from her warm couch, and headed to the door. At first she hesitated to open the door but when she did she saw that no one was there. She felt shivers and cold that spread through her body. She ran her hands through her upper arms and walked back into her room, angry and confused.

The next morning Stella slipped into a dress and went to meet a Greek detective Kostas Andreus.  
Stella walked on the streets of the small Greek city and finally made it to a small but cozy looking café in town that had white plastic chairs and tables, with colorful oversizes umbrellas. She saw a tall man sitting, he was attractive. He had evenly tanned skin and light honey eyes that was accented by his dirty blond hair, that had streaks of brown hair in them.  
She smiled at the man and greeted him in Greek.  
"What brings a fine detective from America to Greece?" Kostas said with his nice Greek accent flirtatiously.  
Stella smiled, she had to admit that he was charming.

"Not what, but who." She turned serious.  
"And who might that be?"  
"Nikolas Lavos." the Greek Detective turned serious at the name, frowning.  
"Hmmm if I were you, I would bring some back up. The man is dangerous and very careful. If I were you I would be very careful with what I do. Although he might be already following you." the man finished. The green eyed detective didn't show fear but she swallowed hard.

_**Me updating is depending on how badly you guys want it, so the magic white button with green words will help you with that. *hint hint***_


	16. Chapter 16

_**DISCLAIMER: DON'T OWN ANYTHING, IF I DID ANGELL WOULD HAVE LIVED!!!!! JUST THE IDEA AND SOME MADE UP NAMES. **_

_**I hope you guys have a good week, there are 2 chaps left after this one. So who do you think died? I like lost my sleep. I love SMACKED scenes from the last 2 episodes, I hope neither of them died. Anyways I will try to update during my vacation if you guys would want to. So I hope you like this chapter. (my version of F/L)**_

Mac sat back down on his desk and looked at the empty space in front of him, pictures of Stella still re-running in his mind. "Damn this case" he silently cursed under his breath. He felt a headache pound into his brain slowly, reminding him that his lack of sleep was catching up on him once again. He closed his eyes and started to rub his temples. He felt a sting of betrayal in his heart, and sighed heavily.

Mac walked into the hospital waiting area and saw Don Flack sitting in the corner looking at some object in the distance. Mac places his hand on Dons shoulder and saw how he jumped up a bit.

"Sorry didn't mean to scare you." he said offering him cup of coffee.

"Thanks, no you're ok. Couldn't sleep?" the tall detective asked seeing that Mac was in his jogging pants, and a zip up sweater.  
"Yeah, thought you could use a friend... and so could I...How is she doing?"

"Thanks, still in surgery. It been what 24 hours since they started. You...you...know...Mac...I never knew how it is to lose a close person...you know. I...did loose friends, co-workers, but...Jess is different you know. Out of all girls I dated she was the one I cared the most about. I even thought of spending rest of my days with her." Flack felt the lump in his throat show through his voice, and eyes.

"Mac how did you survive? I mean, she's not dead yet and one thought of her going makes me want to jump with her." Flack tried not to break down but it was hard.

Mac sat there for a minute thinking about times he wanted to just give up. But one person who never gave up on him was clear in his head.  
"You know," Mac felt tears coming on and his voice starting to break. "Everyday after Claire was gone I just was devastated and all I wanted was to just go with her, my world was gone and I had no point of living any longer. But I when I came to work, something just kept me going, and over time I started to lose that thought. Stella never gave up on me. I felt like I was digging a hole for my self next to Claire but Stella kept putting all of the dug up dirt back to the whole." Mac said sniffling.

"You're lucky Mac. You got Stella."

"Yeah." Mac said sadly sighing. "I had her. And never told her how I felt, now she's gone and I'm digging that whole once again. She's not here to stop me." Mac said silently.

"You fell in love with her huh? Where did she go?" Flack said looking at Mac who were crying silently. He never seen him so broken.

"I don't know. She left, and I couldn't stop her. You know when you were in the room three years ago she was here with me, waiting for you to pull through. I felt like I was whole again, and got scared that I might loose her like Claire. So.."

"That's where Peyton came from huh?"  
Mac nodded. "I know I was hurting Stella, but I was scared that I will ruin our friendship. Then Peyton consumed me with her wants and needs, and Stella was there once again to pull me through. Drawing me closer to her."

"Where is Stella?" Flack asked realizing that the Supervisor of the New York Crime Lab wasn't just pouring his heart out for the better goodness of it all.

"She's gone. Her guilt, me, and the fact that she disobeyed me was haunting her, so she left 24 hours ago. I tried to stop her but was to late."

"What makes you think you're too late? Did she marry someone else? Did she say she didn't wanted to see you? I think you will make the worst mistake in your life if you give up now. She never gave up even though everyone else did."

Mac smiled. Flack was right.

"Don Flack?" a tall guy in white robe called.

"I'm Don," Flack stood up.

"I'm doctor John Mayer who was performing surgery. Do you know if I could find parents of the young lady?"

"Yeah, that's us," the two older people stood up and walked next to Flack and Mac.  
"Ok, well, we got the bullet out, she lost a lot of blood but we were able to get some. So as far as we are concerned she will be fine. It will be slow recovery but she will be fine." the older doctor smiled."as soon as she will wake up you may see her."

Flack felt relief and a stray tear sliding down his cheek. He wiped it off quickly so no one would see it.  
The ex-marine patted Don on the back making him smile, and exhaling.

The two detectives sat back down with relief.

"Thanks, for coming here Mac."

"Well, we're friends that's what we do, we take care of each other." Mac caught himself with his words.  
Flack scoffed. "Go find her Mac. If you don't you will regret it, forever."

_**So you what do you think you can wait for 2 chaps or should I update sooner???**_


	17. Chapter 17

_**DISCLAIMER: DON'T OWN ANYTHING, SADLY.**_

_**I'm so exited to see what will happen next season. Mac and Stella get me exited. Hey maybe its Stella who will be in coma so that they can hook up with Mac. Yea my brain is like "AHHH!!!" Anyways I hope you like this chapter...There is one more left sadly.**_

_**I found some internet in our hotel so I'm Uploading this Chapter. Let me know if you like it or not.  
**_

Stella swallowed hard but didn't let Kostas see that she was a little scared.  
"Well if your done now with introduction to Mr. Lavos you can tell me some information about him?"

"Well everyone from the criminal world knows him here, and he has political amenity, which makes it hard for us to catch him. He is cocky but good. I've worked here for nine years and seen about 20 cases that are all leading towards him but he never slipped up once."

"Can you tell me about the Greek coins? We got about four cases that are leading towards him. He slipped up by the way, and almost killed one of my coworkers."

"Greek coins heh, well they are worth millions on the black market, whoever has them that person sets the rules. They are antiques, you can consider it as gold mining." the Greek detective said smirking.

"Where can I find him?" Stella said impatiently.  
"I think he will find you. If you're close, then you got a bullseye on your forehead." he said smiling simply, making Stella fidget in her chair.  
"Sorry didn't mean to make you uncomfortable there. I've seen about two detectives that were close to catching him but...."

"But?"

"But they were always found washed up on the beach two weeks later. You're good, and from what I've heard, dedicated so it would be sad if he adds you to his "collection"."

"Is that a from him or from you?"

"Nope just a friendly warning." he said smiling. "So what are you doing tonight?"

"Sleeping, time difference is hard on me." He made her uneasy. It felt like he was Drew, he pushed.

"Sad, well when you adjusted let me know. By the way if you need anything from our lab let me know. We're not as good as your lab but we got some good people working." Kostas said trying to ease up the tension that was building between them.

"Thanks, I appreciate it. Well I think I can take you on that offer about your lab right now if you don't mind." Stella said playing along. She felt something fishy about him. Something was wrong.

"Sure, at least I got you interested in something." the blond hair man smiled. They stood up and quickly went to see the lab.  
Even though it was a nice warm day Stella felt cold and empty.

When she was done she was escorted by Kostas to her hotel. Stella felt a little easier about him now. She asked some lab techs about him and was told that he's a nice guy, but just likes to push people part of his job.

Stella walked up to her suit, opened wooden door, kicked her shoes off and walked to her couch. She picked up white phone and dialed a familiar phone number.  
"Flack" she heard sleepy, tired voice of her friend.  
"Did I wake you up?"-Stella said uneasily.  
"Hey, no you're ok, how are you? How's Greece?" Stella heard excitement thought his tired voice.  
"Well its ok. Hot but nice. Hold on how did you know?" Stella asked in shock.

"Mac was here couple days ago. He told me."

"Oh, how's he doing? How's Jessica doing?" Stella asked uneasy.  
"Well Jess is ok she woke up, beat up but will make a full recovery, by the way she says hi. I'm good, the city never sleeps. Mac is irritated and misses you but his thick head and pride gets in the way." Flack heard Stella get quiet and heard her sigh."He won't admit it but he misses you like crazy Stell,"

"I..." she was about to say something when she heard a knock on the door. She felt a little nervous, Kostas' words were playing in her head. "Hold on Flack."  
She stood up opened the door and saw no one again. She let out a frustrated sigh and cursed under her breath.

"Hey sorry Flack,"  
"Everything ok?"-Flack asked in concern.  
"Yeah, someone got a wrong door."  
"Ok, so how are you doing?"  
"I miss you guys. A lot. Tell Jess to get better and a tell her I owe her big time."-Stella said smiling. She heard Flack laughing on the other line.  
"Sure I will. Call me soon ok Stell?"  
"Sure. Say hi to everyone from me. Please."  
"I will. See ya Stella"  
"Bye." she said hanging up her phone smiling. She was about to head to the shower when she heard a knock again. She quietly went to the kitchen and took a knife. Stella heard another knock. She frowned _"Man that person is pissing me off." _she thought.  
She came to the door quietly and unlocked the door, hiding a knife behind her small figure. Once again there was no one at the door. She took a step forward and looked to the right, seconds later everything went black.

_**I know cliffy, I'm so evil right now. You can choose and wait untill I'm back which is on the 25th of May or you can leave me some reviews and I can upload you the final chapter.  
**_


	18. Chapter 18

_**DISCLAIMER: SO I DON'T OWN NOTHING.**_

_**So here you guys the last chapter. I hope you liked the story. Thank you to everyone who reviewed this story and who added me as their favorite, and subscribed.  
**_

_**Thank you to my wonderful beta MrAprilfoolsWatanuki for helping me out on my grammar, and with suggestions. **_

_**You guys made me feel happy! Especially since its my first fic, ever. So I hope you will enjoy reading this last chapter and tell me what you think. I got actually another fic in progress, SMACKED so I hope I will see you guys back. **_

_**Oh and I got another oneshot coming soon possibly the coming week.  
**_

Mac left the airport and took a cab to the hotel where Stella was staying at. He ordered a room on her floor actually across from her. When he walked to the third floor he saw a man hovering over a woman that looked like Stella. Without making any sounds he moved close and hit the guy on his head knocking him unconscious. When he looked at the man he saw that he was Nicholas Lavos.

"Son of a bitch!" Mac cursed. He cuffed the man and dragged him into the apartment. When he looked at Stella he felt for her pulse and checked that she wasn't hurt badly he called Kostas.

The next morning Stella tried opening her eyes but it was hard to adjust to the light. She frowned but found that her eyesight was blurred. The curly haired woman tried to open her eyes again but it was no use, a silhouette what looked to be a man was walking, or doing something but she couldn't make the person out.  
Making sure that her hands weren't tied she rubbed her eyes and saw that person moved back to the kitchen she couldn't make out who he was. Slowly, Stella got up and grabbed a scissor that were hid behind the lamp.  
After Frankie she took no chances, slowly without any sound she moved behind the man and got a hold of the man putting scissors in his neck.  
"Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?"  
"Stell it's me, Mac." Mac said trying to calm the panicking woman. He felt her heart race and her breathing increase very rapidly, on his ear that made his knees weak. Trying not to hurt her he moved his hands and took the scissor from her shaking hand.  
"Shhhh, give them to me. I'm not going to hurt you." he turned the devastated woman around and saw tears in her eyes and took her in his arms.

"Mac your here, what happened? Mac what are you doing here? Ouch" she felt a strong pain in her head hit her.  
Pulling away Mac cupped her face and smiled. "Long story, you my dear was hit last night by Lavos and he tried to kill you." he moved and took a bag of ice out of the fridge and took a towel wrapping the ice bag and gently putting on top of her curly hair.  
"I don't remember." Stella frowned and sat on the chair next to the clear dining table.  
"Of course you were unconscious. We arrested him and he's in jail right now. He slipped, and he won't be out for a while." Mac smiled and looked into Stella's green eyes, their gaze locked for a minute.  
"You saved my life, thank you. Why are you here?" Stella whispered never breaking her and Mac's gaze.  
"I saved your life once and you save mine everyday, when you're next to me. I'm here because that's were my heart and soul is."  
Stella felt his eyes observe her reaction by his revelation. _"He doesn't mean that, just feeling sorry for me"._  
"Mac, your words are sweet but I don't need your pity, I appreciate you coming here, and saving my life but please don't make it harder then its already is, please."  
"Stella, why are you saying that?" Mac felt his heart break by her words.  
"Mac, why are you acting like you're blind? I can't be your friend Mac, watch you go through all the relationships, seeing how other women are making you happy. Then seeing how they are breaking your heart and with it they are breaking mine too." she felt her tears coming on and her voice breaking.  
"I'm sorry. I want to thank you for that you did for me.."  
"Mac, don't...please leave. Go to her, give her a chance, be happy ok?"  
"Give who a chance?"  
"Peyton."  
"Peyton? You think that me and her?" Stella nodded softly in response. "What if I want to be where my heart is?"  
"Mac," Stella stood up and opened the door for the blue eyed detective.

Following the curly haired woman Mac stood up and walked in front of her. Looking deep into her sad green eyes Mac surprised to him self started to speak.  
"I'm sorry for all the pain I caused you, but I want you to know that I love you more then I can say, I'm sorry I didn't give us a chance." Mac gave her last glance and tried to go past her. He was almost at the door when he felt a soft sob and a hand that pulled his upper arm backwards. He turned and next thing he knew the beautiful creature in front of him was pressing his lips onto his. Surprised and shocked he kissed her back, tasting her mouth that was mixed with salty tears. When they both needed air they pulled away Stella smiled softly.  
"Did anyone ever tell you that you have a hard head?" Stella spoke trying to catch her breath, and sobbing at the same time.  
Mac let out a soft chuckle, he cupped her face and wiped her tears off.  
"I love you too Mac. I'm sorry I asked you to leave." Stella's words and sparkling eyes made Mac smile.  
"That's ok. If you want to I can leave."  
"Never ever, can you take a little vacation with me here in Greece?"  
"Only if you comeback with me and be my CSI again?" Mac said playfully.  
"Yeah, that be nice." she said with a smile and hugged the man she loved so much.  
"I love you very much Mac, always."

They were happy now, holding hands. Mac knew everything was over now, now they can take small steps walk hand in hand through their journey together.

The End


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